2011!

happy 2011!  i have several posts that are half written but never got finished so i will be posting some fun holiday stuff into january.  it was an awesome holiday season this year, filled with togetherness, family, cookies, snow (a blizzard!) and gifts (given and received).

i wish everyone a safe and healthy 2011!

mindfulness

I read this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh today over at uncommongrace:

"If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not 'washing the dishes to wash the dishes.' What's more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact, we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can't wash the dishes, the chances are we won't be able to drink our tea, either. While thinking of other things, we are barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus, we are sucked away into the future -- and we are incapable of actually living one moment of life!"

i need to remember these words, especially in this busy month full of excitement and 'stuff' to do.  this special time is fleeting and i want to be present to enjoy each moment.

happy thanksgiving!

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." -Proust

I am so very thankful to be surrounded by family and friends that make me very very happy. we cooked, baked, played and even did a little crafting together. it was a perfect day. I feel very blessed and loved.

it fits (finally!)

the bonnet that i knit for maeve last christmas finally fits her! i knit so tight that i try to knit with larger needles but sometimes my gauge gets thrown totally off in the other (bigger) direction. but luckily her head grew in the last year, woo hoo!

i am diligently trying to finish a tunic i am knitting for her (that i started in the summer!) for this christmas.  i think i can, i think i can...

welcome autumn...

the trees in our yard were gorgeous last week. now... most leaves have fallen. we had a windy few days and it shook most of the leaves from the trees. the kids don't seem to mind though because it just means more leaves to rake, jump in and throw around.

we are beginning to settle into a more 'inside' lifestyle. calvin and i made some pumpkin muffins last week and i have been itching to do more baking. i have been knitting more too. luckily the weather change has been gradual so we get to ease into this changing rhythm, with a few hours outside today and a few inside.

sam and i put the gate up on our garden. this was the last step and now our garden is complete! we are both dreaming of what to plant in the spring...

apple picking 2010

we went apple picking a few weekends ago.  this is our fourth year in a row of apple picking so i think it is now considered a tradition.  an autumn tradition that i know i will look forward to each year.  i will especially look forward to the apple pie, apple cake, apple sauce and apple butter!

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

book: bless us all

since i am a teacher i thought i would start sharing some of the books that i love to read with my children and/or with my students.

the first book i am sharing is a book i love to read with my children.  it was a gift for calvin for his first christmas and it has been a favorite ever since.  maeve now loves to hear it too.  it is written by cynthia rylant, who is a prolific and eclectic children's book author.  Bless Us All is filled with blessing rhymes for each month of the year.  each month 'blesses' things that one might see in that month.  for example, january is 'bless the houses snug and tight, bless the kitties day and night, bless the trees and bless the snow, bless us all when cold winds blow.'  the illustrations are simple and colorful.

a simple story that reminds us to 'bless the ones so dear to us, keep them safe and near to us'!

busy busy busy

being a teacher, september is always a busy month full of transition for us. but as october is beginning, we are finally finding our rhythm.

i have been having fun making bento style lunches for the kids. i was getting tired of packing the same old thing and i began to search the web for some new ideas and stumbled across bento box lunch ideas that looked fun. i love the lunches by another lunch. i am finding it that it is a creative outlet for me that is very useful, something i have to do anyway (and am enjoying much more that i used to) and not too involved (at least not as much as making a quilt...).  plus the kids love them!

this was cal's lunch on the first day of autumn. see the little bear head? that is an egg! i found these egg shapers at our local japanese market. i used little cutters i have had to make the cheese into fall leaves. carrots with hummus on the right and some fall colored crackers by the bear. the sandwich is dinosaur shaped, i know not super fall, but that is the only sandwich cutter i own.  (fyi... the lunch is packed in an ecolunchbox)

we are trying to make the most of this colorful season by getting outside as much as possible. it is our family favorite and something we look forward to and talk about all year long.  we are taking a fall nature and art class through the local extended education program.  it rained for the first class so we were indoors.  i have high hopes for next week though.

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

just make it!

i have a few large sewing projects on my to-do list at the moment, so of course i am procrastinating completing them. boo. instead i have found a few finish-in-the-same-sitting kind of projects that i just had to do immediately. so i did them. above and below are flannel wipes that i saw over at progressive pioneer and just had to make them. i made 30! it only took me 2 nap times (i measure all of my projects in nap times these days!). we use them constantly. the only thing i would change is that the tutorial called for a zigzag stitch around the outside, which you can see i did in the close-up below, but i wish i would have done an overlock stitch (sort of like a surged edge) because i had quite a few little strings to cut off after they had been washed a few times.

i also made a little crinkle toy for my friends new baby girl. i have made a few of these in the last few weeks, lots of babies around here!  i used the new sun chip compostable bag on the inside to make the crinkle that babies love so much. it is so crinkly! then i added some ribbon in a 'taggie' style.

saw this tutorial for reusable bags over at angry chicken and i just had to do make them, immediately. we have some bags that i made with PUL and velcro, but they took awhile to make and we have some that a friend of mine made for us but we just didn't have enough. i love these becuase they are just one piece of fabic, so there is no lining to deal with. they sew up super fast (i made 10 in about an hour) and i used scraps for a many of them. we use them every day!

they are the old school kind of baggie that just has a flap that flips over.  below is the back.

and here is the front with the flap flipped and closed.  i use these for dry snacks, such as popcorn, pretzels, and dried fruit.  for gooier stuff i use the bag lined with PUL.

last but not least i made these wet bags  from 'a lemon squeezy home' for cal and maeve.  cal needed one for school.  they play in water everyday and so wet clothes were coming home everyday in a plastic bag.  so now he had a wet bag that works perfectly!  it fits a bathing suit and a shirt with space leftover.

the wet bag in these pictures is maeve's.  it lives in the diaper bag to hold wet cloth diapers when we are out and about.  i lined both bags with PUL so they are waterproof.  i am very proud of the zippers!  i have never really sewn a zipper and had it look decent when i was done, but this time i actually broke out the zipper foot and voila!  they turned out pretty good.  i only had to rip it all out once, definitely a success!

now back to those big projects...

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

3.5

my little boy is three and a half today. i could not be more proud of the little man is he is becoming... curious, smart, loving, kind and adventurous. i am so lucky to get to watch him discover this big world and how he fits into it (and even his small attempts to change it).

yesterday when we were deciding what treat to make for his special day he said he wanted chocolate cake. i asked him what goes into chocolate cake and he replied, "lemon juice and lime juice that I squeeze and bread." hmmm....


happy half-birthday my dear boy!

blueberries!

:: cal finding the perfect berries ::

:: cleaning our berries ::

:: making blueberry jam ::

:: eating loads of berries! ::

we went blueberry picking with some friends last weekend, and we have been relishing our bounty all week.  we made blueberry jam, which turned out way better than two years ago (which turned out very thick...).  i decided to use the strawberry jam recipe from this book because the strawberry jam i made last month was the best. jam. ever.  it calls for three cups of berries per one cup sugar but we did six cups berries per one cup sugar, which is what i did with the strawberries too, and it was perfectly sweet.  

i also made blueberry sauce (which trader joe's carried and was a family favorite for pancakes and waffles, but they discontinued it :( and all i could find at other markets was blueberry flavored syrup... yuck!).  i found this recipe and it came out pretty good too, not exactly the same as the tj's one, but it will do!

i love picking our own berries!  i love that we get to enjoy our berries all year long and remember the sunny, summer days of berry picking!

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

butterfly party!

for maeve's first birthday party, we threw a butterfly party!  i know a one year old doesn't really need a themed birthday party, but it just makes deciding on the decorations, sweets and favors easier if i have a direction to go in.

:: my sweet girl on the day of her birth, her birthday crown and party favors in bags! ::

:: party favors for the girls... pink shirts with a butterfly appliqué ::

:: party favors for the boys... gray shirts with a butterfly appliqué ::

:: decorations and party craft... watercolored coffee filter butterflies ::

:: butterflies as decoration ::



:: butterfly dress i made for maeve (oliver + s pattern) ::



:: close up of front pleating ::



:: butterfly cupcakes with very green icing! (tutorial here) ::



:: enjoying the cupcakes and green icing ::

it was super hot and humid on party day so we started inside, tried to go outside midparty because it felt like it was getting a bit cooler but after awhile we all agreed that it felt like we were melting so we migrated back inside.  

i had lots of fun planning and making for the party and i know maeve had fun. she loved seeing her friends and all the attention, of course!  happy birthday!       

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

happy birthday maeve!

:: one year ago today ::

my baby girl is one today.  my emotions range from elated that she is one and so independent to crying that my baby is one already... the last year seemed to fly by.  i feel so lucky to be maeve's mama.  she is kind and gentle and curious beyond her one year.  she loves her brother with everything she has and the feeling is mutual.  my heart melts when she calls out my name, but it is "hi daddy" that she says all day long, to everyone she sees.  she loves to sleep and still takes 3 naps on most days.  i have sung 'shady grove' to her as i rocked her to sleep since she was just a few months (days?) old, and now that song instantly relaxes her (and me!).  bird was her first word, due in part to her bird mobile and in part to our bird house which was host to a sweet finch family this year.  maeve is an avid crawler and has stood on her own a few times in the past week.  i hope she takes her time with learning to walk (i am not ready!).  she loves to climb the stairs, and we are working on going down feet (not head) first.  she loves to blow kisses, and does so to random people much to their (and her) delight.  her favorite foods are berries and broccoli and anything off of calvin's plate.  she laughs a lot and often for no reason at all (that i know of) she will burst into laughter!  

happy first birthday sweet baby maeve!

obx 2010

:: kite flying ::

:: sand and water play ::

:: searching for shells ::



:: evening swim at high tide ::

:: sunsets ::

our vacation to the outer banks of north carolina was perfect.  family, friends, relaxing, eating, reading and lots of knitting.  i am already looking forward to next year!

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

we be jammin'

we went strawberry picking last weekend.  it was a perfect not-too-hot day.  the berries were plentiful and we picked about 15 pounds!  we have eaten a lot of strawberries in the past week...  i also made a few yummies: strawberry syrup, strawberry jam from apples for jam, and lots of strawberry shortcake!  maeve smells like strawberries now all the time, starting right when she wakes up in the morning and to when i am rocking her to sleep just after a bath.  

welcome summer!

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama

jam tart

i made this jam tart the other day and it was delicious... i mean seriously, really, really good. plus it was super easy. you should make one. very soon.